Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Burning Exploration team
by Magical Girl Pinkie
Summary: In a world where almost everyone has problems, one exploration team has the power to change it for better or worse. There will be romance in later chapters. If you spot a major flaw in the story, please tell me!
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, I'm writing ANOTHER Mystery Dungeon fic. This is not related to any other of my stories at all.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.**

**Chapter 1**

Karen was a completely normal 11 year old girl. Her weight and figure were normal. She had normal short and straight brown hair , and her eyes were a bright normal blue. Her face was also dotted with normal freckles. She had normal parents and a normal little brother and sister. She also had a normal dog and cat. She went to a normal public school and she had a few normal friends. Her life was normal, nothing that special. It was so normal that it was boring. She wished that something strange would happen, like an alien invasion or a zombie apocalypse. She never imagined something strange would ever happen until that day. That day was the day her world turned upside down.

It started as all normal days did. Karen was woken up by her little sister, Amanda. She got dressed in a pink shirt with a butterfly on it and a matching skirt. She had breakfast with her family, and then she played with the dog, Spot, and the cat, Mittens. She got ready for school and walked the short distance to her school soon after.

"Hey, Karen! Want to play baseball at recess?" A classmate, Jake, asked during lunch. Karen declined because she had played with the same classmate and her friends for four days straight. She wanted to do something different for once. He was persistent and asked her to play until she said yes just to get him to be quiet so she could eat her lunch in peace.

When recess finally came, Karen played baseball with her friends. She used to love to play baseball when she was little because she watched games with her dad. When she got older, she got bored of it because she got interested in other things. She had plenty of experience from playing it when she was little, so she was pretty good at it.

She almost got a home run this time, but she hit it so hard that she knocked out a strange bird that just happened to be flying by. After the game, she went to the place the bird landed in. She recognized it right away as the Pokemon known as Murkrow. She didn't play the Pokemon games, but her little brother did. She watched him play often, and he caught a Murkrow while she was watching one time. The Murkrow woke up as she picked it up. It looked at her for a few seconds, and then it pecked her in the head and flew away. She couldn't help but stare as it flew away. Soon after, recess was over and Karen went back to class.

"Karen, do you want to come to my place after school?" A friend asked her after class was finally over. Karen declined as she ran ahead of him and out of the school's doors. As she was walking home, she saw the same Murkrow from earlier.

"Hey, Murkrow, are you lost?" She said nicely. She never expected it to talk back to her. Pokemon never talked in her little brother's games.

"I'm not lost, you idiot human! I'm just waiting for my team to find me, no thanks to you." It said. It turned its back to her.

"Your... team?" She said, a little surprised. Just then, a black space appeared on the sidewalk below her. She jumped backwards to avoid it.

"Murkrow, where are you?" A ghostly voice came from the black space on the sidewalk. A Mismagius came from the black space on the sidewalk. Karen was surprised and a little scared at the same time. She had never seen a Pokemon like it.

"L-lady Mismagius!" Murkrow shouted, surprised. He seemed to know Mismagius from somewhere. It seemed that Mismagius was a part of the team Murkrow was talking about.

"There you are! Flirting with that human, are you?" Mismagius joked. Murkrow took this as an offense and shouted at her.

"Hell no! I don't like this stupid human! She knocked me out of the sky with a ball!" He pointed to Karen while saying this. Mismagius laughed at him.

"Yeah right," She said sarcastically, "Let's get back to the rest of the team," She paused and looked at Karen, who was still there, "Hey, that girl, she looks familiar..."

"What is it, Lady Mismagius?" Murkrow asked. Mismagius whispered something in his ear. Murkrow smiled and held up his wing, which started glowing. "Can I?" He asked.

"Just don't kill her. The boss will want her alive. I'll go get Honchkrow, so don't go anywhere," Mismagius said as she sunk back into the sidewalk. Karen knew where this was going, but she couldn't move. She was too scared.

"Take this! Wing attack!" Murkrow flew into the air and at Karen. His glowing wing hit her in the arm and made a large cut that started bleeding. Karen screamed in pain. Murkrow flew to her other arm, but Karen narrowly dodged it. After barely dodging a few more attacks to her uncut arm, she was knocked over by Honchkrow, who had flown by her feet while she wasn't looking. The poor girl tried to get up, but she always fell back down because she couldn't put weight on her right leg.

"Sorry kid, but you need to come with us," Honchkrow started moving towards Karen, but he was hit with a charged beam of electricity.

"Team Psychic! What are you doing here?" Mismagius looked at a pair of Pokemon on the roof of a house. They were an Espeon and a Gardevoir. Gardevoir's hands were smoking a little.

"We were in the neighborhood," Espeon sounded bored, "What are you doing? Hurting an innocent bystander? I'm afraid we're going to have to take you down, _again_." Espeon and Gardevoir jumped off the roof and onto the ground. Espeon fought with Mismagius while Gardevoir moved Karen out of the way so she wouldn't get hit with any of their attacks.

"Are you okay?" Gardevoir asked. She was a little worried about the cut on Karen's arm and grabbed some bandages out of the bag she was holding and wrapped it around her arm to stop the bleeding.

"Thanks," Karen was obviously in pain. By this time, Espeon had already defeated Mismagius. She scoffed at the defeated Pokemon and said some words.

"How pitiful." She walked away and went to where Gardevoir and Karen were, and took a small look at her. "I guess this is the human they attacked, am I right?" Espeon always had the same bitter, emotionless tone in her voice.

"Yes, It appears that they broke her leg and also made a cut in her arm. I stopped the bleeding with a bandage," She said to her teammate.

"My name is Karen, thank you for saving me," She said to Espeon and Gardevoir. Espeon ignored her.

"Come on, let's get back to our world," Espeon walked away.

"What about Karen! We can't just leave her here! Team Dusk is bound to come back!" Gardevoir shouted. Espeon was too far away to hear her. "Karen, come with me. I'll help you walk." They went to where Espeon was. There was a small portal behind her.

"Gardevoir, you idiot! This human can cause mass hysteria just by her very presence! There's nothing we can do about that," Espeon shouted.

"What's wrong with her! She's just a little girl for pete's sake!" Gardevoir shouted back. Karen thought it was best not to speak at the moment. Espeon whispered something in Gardevoir's ear. "That would cause mass hysteria. Oh! I have a solution!" Gardevoir quietly told Espeon what she was thinking.

"You're nuts, but it could work," Espeon turned to Karen, "Karen, can you come with us?" Karen nodded and then they all leaped into a small portal.

They landed in a small dome shaped house with one floor. There were two "beds" and that was about it. "Where are we anyway?" Karen asked.

"We are in the world where Pokemon live. Things haven't been great lately here though..." Gardevoir told her.

"What's going on?" Karen asked. She didn't know anything about this world, except for the fact that Pokemon live in it.

"There's a virus going around as of recent. It's a horrible virus. It makes Pokemon have hallucinations that drive them insane. Those Pokemon often kill innocent Pokemon, and eventually they kill themselves," Gardevoir looked at Karen, " The most common hallucination is of a girl who looks just like you, so if anyone sees you, they'll think they have the virus and go crazy until they actually get the virus. That's why we need to turn you into a Pokemon. It'll be risky, but Espeon and I would do anything to avoid a crisis."

"Am I going to lose my memory from this?" Karen asked. Gardevoir only nodded. "Okay, if it's to avoid a huge crisis, I'll turn into a Pokemon. One more thing, if you can control what Pokemon I turn into, can I be a Vulpix?"

"Okay, I'll try to turn you into a Pokemon. Now hold still," Espeon said. The gem on her forehead started glowing, and there was a bright flash of light, and then Karen was gone.

A few miles away, there was an old building. In it were many books about the history of the Pokemon world. A Shinx, Spark, was looking through one of these books. He wasn't reading the words, he was just looking at the pictures. Spark didn't know how to read anything. After he was done, he walked out and found an unconscious female Vulpix right outside the building. He took it home because young Pokemon like him and the Vulpix could get seriously hurt or even killed at nighttime.

The next morning, while Spark went to gather apples and berries, the Vulpix woke up. She looked around her. She was in a dome shaped one floored house that was in need of serious repair. The walls were painted yellow, but nobody could easily tell that because most of the paint had chipped off. On the walls were pictures of two Luxray and five Luxio. She was on a "bed," and next to her was an empty basket with a paper attached to it. The paper had scribbles on it that were meant to be words.

"Hey, you're awake, Vulpix!" Spark came in with a bag full of food.

"V-Vulpix? I'm not a Vulpix! I'm a human!" She shouted.

"Well, you look like a normal Vulpix to me," Spark said, "Take a look in this mirror and see for yourself." He handed her a mirror that was in his bag.

"I-I really am a Vulpix! But I used to be a human, and I can't remember anything from when I was a human... What's going on?" Vulpix shouted.

"Vulpix..." Spark sighed. He wanted to make her feel better, but he couldn't think of what to say.

"Don't call me Vulpix! Call me Blaze okay?" That name was the first thing she could think of because she didn't know her real one.

"It's nice to meet you, Blaze. My name is Spark," He introduced himself. He noticed that Blaze was looking at a picture of two Luxray cuddling together. She asked who they were. "Those two? They're my mom and dad..." He didn't seem as happy as before.

"Where are they?" She asked. Spark decided to lie about where they were.

"They're on a big exploration... Yeah! A big exploration! Now can we change the subject? Like, where should you stay? You can stay at my place, if you want," He perked up again.

"But we've only known each other for five minutes, are you sure this is really a good idea?" She asked.

"It's a great idea! I need the company anyway! I am living alone here, you know," Spark smiled.

"Fine, but don't try anything funny! If you do, I'm leaving!" She pouted. That night, she and Spark were sleeping. Suddenly, they were woken up by some banging on the door.

"Oh, no... Not again! Blaze, you need to hide!" Spark got a dark cloak from under the food basket and threw it over her. His fur started to glow. The door burst open and a Zubat came into the house.

"Okay, kid, give me your food! If you don't, I'll destroy you!" The Zubat demanded. Spark did nothing but reluctantly give his food away to Zubat.

"Thanks, kid!" Zubat flew out the door. Blaze got out from the cloak and questioned him.

"Why did you do that? That demand wasn't even threatening! I could make a better demand in my sleep!" She yelled at him.

"I did try to fight Zubat once, but he was too strong and I got hurt. I did what I did because I didn't want to get hurt again," He responded.

"Well, if you won't fight, I will. I'll get your food back no matter what it takes! I'm going to follow that Zubat. You can come with me if you want!" Blaze ran off in Zubat's direction. Spark ran after her.

"Blaze come back! It's too dangerous! Blaze, are you even listening to me?" Spark shouted. Blaze turned around, and looked at Spark.

"So, you decided to come after all. That's really brave of you, Spark." She said. Spark got a little angry at this.

"I didn't want to come with you! I wanted to warn you! It's dangerous out there, Blaze! You see that cave ahead of you?" Spark pointed to a dark cave ahead of them.

"Yeah, I was about to go into it. Why are you asking?" Blaze shrugged.

"That cave is known as a mystery dungeon! It's a strange place. First, it's different every time you go in! Also, if you get defeated you lose half your items and money! Most of all, it's super dangerous!" Spark explained with fear in his voice. He was obviously afraid of those places. Blaze went in anyway. "Hey! Were you even listening?" He ran in after her.

**Black Cave B1F**

When Blaze and Spark got into the dungeon, they were immediately attacked by a Grimer.

"Ember!" She called out the name of an attack. Small fireballs shot out of her mouth and hit the Grimer.

"Spark! Let's go!" Spark tackled the Grimer and knocked it out. Blaze was surprised he didn't run away. He was a coward, after all. They walked a little and found an Oran berry. Spark explained that eating it would heal injuries. They walked a little more and found the stairs

**Skipping to the bottom...**

After a few floors of exploring, they found Zubat at the deepest part of the dungeon.

"There you are, Zubat! Give back Spark's food!" Blaze shouted.

"What if I don't? Will you pound me into the ground for your little coward of a friend?" He remarked. Spark was enraged by this and decided to speak.

"I'm not a coward! I'm going to defeat you to show it!" Spark was not kidding at all.

"Oh really! Let me see you try!" Zubat taunted Spark. Spark came at Zubat with a Spark attack, which hit him. It was super effective, so Zubat was barely hanging on.

"Ok, Blaze, I'll let you finish him off!" Spark said.

"Okay! Extrasensory!" A rainbow beam shot out thorough her eyes and hit Zubat, knocking him out. Spark quickly gathered the food that Zubat hadn't eaten and went out of the dungeon.

"Hey, Spark, why did Zubat steal your food?" Blaze asked once they were out.

"He was an outlaw. Outlaws are Pokemon wanted by the police. A long time ago, they were just wanted for stealing, but recently they've been wanted for much more than that. They say it's because of a virus that's been going around that makes Pokemon go insane. Now they're wanted for setting houses on fire, kidnappings, killing other Pokemon," Spark went thorough a laundry list of what outlaws are wanted for, "exploration teams take down these outlaws and turn them into the police. I want to form one with you, is that okay?" Spark asked.

"Yes, but only if you tell me about this virus," She said.

"Okay, as I said before, it makes Pokemon go insane. The first symtoms of the virus are hallucinations, most commonly of a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes. Almost everybody in the town I live in has lost a loved one from it. It's a horrible virus," Spark had a few tears in his eyes. Blaze saw this and thought he lost his family from it. "Let's not talk about this anymore, ok!" Blaze nodded and then they went home.

The next day, Spark showed Blaze around the town. It was a beautiful town with plenty of flowers and grass. Among the shops there were the Luxray link shop, the Machamp Dojo, a Kecleon shop, and a Kangaskan storage.

"And this is the Blissey day care, the Pokemon that runs this place helped raise me when I was younger," Spark showed her a building that looked like a Blissey, "Blissey! Its Spark! I brought a friend!" A Blissey came out of the building.

"Spark! I didn't know you had such a cute girlfriend! How long have you known each other?" She asked. Spark blushed a little and took a few steps away from Blaze. "Oh, come on! You know you like her!"

"Actually, I'm not his girlfriend," Blaze said while blushing.

"Oh, sorry. I must have embarrassed you, Spark. Well, I have to get back to work now. Take care you two!" Blissey went back inside the day care. Blaze and Spark went home after that.

"Blaze, we need to think of a name for our team, what will it be?" Spark was filling out a exploration team application form.

"How about Team Berry?" Blaze suggested. Spark agreed with her and filled out the rest of the form, and then he sent it out in the mail. That night, Blaze decided to walk around the town by herself. The town seemed lonely at night with nobody but her there. Multiple lights illuminated the floor of the town. She walked until she came to the old building that Spark was in two days ago. She went in and started reading a book when she heard a voice behind her.

"What's a girl as cute as you doing here at this hour? You could get hurt," Blaze turned around and saw a Sneasel. Was this guy an outlaw or an innocent Pokemon who just happened to be there?

**So, what did you think? I'm still an amateur, so I need a lot of help! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, guys! Thank you for reading this story! Thank you for your support! Now, let's begin chapter 2, but first, here's a useless disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing! Pokemon belongs to Nintendo**

**Chapter 2**

Blaze stared at Sneasel for a moment. She was in a old building with many books and paintings. It was almost like a library, but it was old and almost abandoned. Who was this guy? Was he an outlaw, or not? Blaze started a conversation with him.

"Who are you and why are you here?" She asked. She kept her distance from him, just in case he was an outlaw.

"I'm just a young Sneasel who has nothing better to do. I come here every night, in case you didn't know," he said. _This guy isn't an outlaw, or is he?_ Blaze thought.

"Why do you come here every night, anyway?" She asked him a second question. _It better not be "So I can find cute girls like you" or anything_, Blaze hoped.

"I come here to read books. My favorite one is this one," he picked up a very old book and blew the dust off it, "It's a diary written by a Pokemon who was infected by the virus. My favorite part is this," He flipped the pages until he was at the end of the book. Blaze read what was on there. It was a few paragraphs describing the owner's final moments. On the second to last page, there was a illustration by the owner himself. It was of a young girl with short brown hair in a white dress. She had a heart shaped face and freckles. Her hands were small and they were clenched together. She was wearing nothing on her tiny feet. Her eyes were only partly opened, showing only a little bit of her bright blue eyes. Blaze thought it looked familiar somehow, but soon dismissed it. "I always find myself looking at it. It's very beautiful isn't it?" He said.

"Yes it is... Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Blaze." She said.

"That's a very nice name. It really fits you," Sneasel said and smiled a little. Blaze was starting to like Sneasel already. After a few more minutes of small talk, Blaze said goodbye to Sneasel and went home.

The next morning, an exploration team starter kit came in Spark's mail. It included an exploration team badge which had Blaze's footprint on it, a treasure bag, a blue bow, and a Pecha Scarf. Blaze got the blue bow while Spark got the Pecha Scarf. When Blaze saw her reflection in a mirror, she smiled. The bow just looked so good on her. However, Spark thought he looked silly with the scarf around his neck.

"I forgot to ask you earlier, but why did we have to fill out a form to become an exploration team?" Blaze asked.

"In other towns, you have to go to a guild to sign up to be an exploration team. But in the town we live in, there is no guild at all. So, to become an exploration team here, you have to fill out a form," Spark explained.

"Wow, you seem to know a lot! Where did you learn all this, anyway?" She asked.

"Blissey taught me all she knew. She was an explorer back in the day. She used to be super famous! At least, that's what she says," He said. Blaze giggled a little bit. They talked until someone knocked on the door. When Spark let the visitor in, Blaze saw it was Blissey, who was holding an egg. She looked very nervous.

"What's wrong? You don't look happy," She asked Blissey. Blissey paused for a moment and then she finally spoke.

"This egg here... I need you to take care of it," she said.

"Why can't you take care of it yourself?" Blaze asked.

"I want to, but I'm too busy at the moment. There's a lot of eggs in the daycare lately, and I'm very busy taking care of them all. I just can't take care of this egg right now," she explained. She hugged the egg softly.

"It's okay, we won't let anything happen to it. Right, Blaze?" Spark reassured Blissey that the egg would be safe. He looked at Blaze, who nodded.

"Thank you so much! When the egg hatches, it'll be in your team, is that okay with you?" Blissey thanked them.

"That would be great! Don't worry, the egg's in good hands," Blaze said happily. Blissey left, relieved.

"So, what do we do now?" Spark asked once she was out the door. Blaze suggested that they just watched over the egg until it hatches. They did just that for several days. It bored both of them out of their minds because they couldn't do anything fun for all that time. All they did was watch the egg and keep it warm. One day they got tired of staying in the house all day and went out for a walk. When they went back, they found the egg was missing. In its place was a note. Blaze picked it up and read it. It was a note from an outlaw that had barged into their house and taken the egg while they were gone. It wanted their food in exchange for the egg. It was waiting at the mystery dungeon Mt. Rock.

"Blaze, what's wrong? Where's the egg?" asked Spark. He was very worried. One could only imagine what would happen if Blissey got angry! She had really trusted them and would be furious if she found out the egg was missing. He shuddered at the very thought of it. Blaze shoved the note in his face, not knowing that Spark couldn't read a thing.

"Can't you read? The egg's in trouble! We need to save it. I'm going now, you can come with me if you want." Blaze ran off. Spark got the note off of his face and ran after her. They ran until they came to a small grey, rocky mountain.

"This is Mt. Rock, am I right?" Said Spark. He looked at Blaze, who was looking up at the mystery dungeon.

"Yes, it is." She said without glancing at Spark. She turned her head and looked at Spark. "What are you waiting for? We need to save the egg! There's no time to waste. We need to go now," Blaze walked in while Spark followed behind her.

**Mt. Rock 1F**

When they were inside, they saw that the dungeon was pretty large. It would take a while to get to the top. They walked around, looked for the stairs, and defeated Pokemon that were attacking them, who were mostly rock-types like Geodude. They found the stairs in no time.

**Skipping to the top...**

"Huff... Blaze... We... made it! Huff..." said Spark, out of breath. Ahead of them was the outlaw, Golem, and the egg, which was about to hatch.

"We finally found you! Now give us our egg back!" Blaze shouted, but he didn't give the egg back.

"What? Why won't you give the egg back!" Spark said.

"You never gave me the food," He said. He got hit with an Ember from Blaze. "Fine then! Defeat me and you'll get your egg back! Let me see you try!" A boss battle started instantly. Blaze went first and hit him with an Ember attack. Spark went next and hit Golem with a Bite attack. Golem went last with a Rock Throw attack that hit Spark. This went on for five minutes until Blaze and Spark were worn out from battling and about to faint.

"Wow... This guy is tough!" Spark said.

"He is... but I'm never giving up!" hollered Blaze. She quickly hit him with a Ember attack. Spark also hit him with a Bite attack. Golem was about to use a Rock Throw attack on Blaze when a small high-pitched voice squeaked from behind him.

"Don't hurt my mama and papa!" It was a Hoppip, who had hatched from the egg just then. She hit Golem with a powerful Double-Edge attack and knocked him out. Spark just stared at her, surprised.

"... I thought Hoppips only knew Splash at birth... I guess Double-Edge is an egg move... and how did she know we were her mama and papa?" He finally spoke. Hoppip giggled a little.

"Papa's silly! Silly Papa!" She said happily.

"Come on, let's go home," Blaze suggested. They went home almost immediately. A few minutes after they were home, Blissey barged into the house.

"Hi! I came to check on the egg! Oh, it hatched! It's a cute Hoppip! I just wanna pinch her little cheeks!" She went up to Hoppip. She turned to Blaze after hugging the little Pokemon. "Thank you so much for taking care of this little cutie! She could be a very famous explorer one day!"

"Oh, that reminds me of something I wanted to ask you. Were you an explorer once?" Blaze asked.

"Oh yes, I was! I was one during the time exploration teams weren't all about beating up outlaws for profit. They actually explored! It really brings back memories, you know..." She began to ramble about her days as an explorer.

"Blissey..." Spark said, "you're rambling again..." Spark took a deep breath and shouted, "BLISSEY!" Blissey stopped talking and looked at Spark.

"Oh, sorry. I start to ramble when I'm reminded of my days as an explorer," She said. Spark only sighed and shook his head.

"That's okay," Blaze said.

"Thank you for letting me see your little cutie!" Blissey said as she left a few minutes later. She waved goodbye as she left the house. Blaze, Spark, and Hoppip did the same, waving goodbye as Blissey left.

"It's late, so we should all go to sleep," Blaze said. Hoppip and Spark nodded. Later that night, Blaze went to the old building. She got the old book and was about to read it when she heard Sneasel's voice behind her.

"Hello, Blaze. I see you're doing well. You're looking at that book, it's interesting isn't it?" He said. Blaze turned around and saw him behind her.

"I barely read it... wait, when did you get here?" Blaze jumped back. Sneasel laughed for no particular reason.

"Only a few seconds ago. Why do you ask such silly questions?" He asked.

"N-no reason," Blaze looked away.

"Oh, that's okay," Sneasel said and shrugged his shoulders. "Where were you these past few nights?" He asked out of the blue. Blaze thought for a little while and then she told him about the egg, but didn't tell him about the Golem stealing the egg. "So you were taking care of an egg for the Blissey who runs the daycare? And then it hatched into a Hoppip? That's interesting," He said.

"Yeah, she's on our exploration team now," She said.

"E-exploration team? Um... what's its name?" Sneasel asked. He was honestly surprised.

"It's Team Berry," Blaze responded.

"And are there anyone besides you and Hoppip in it?" He asked another question.

"Yes, the other member is a Shinx named Spark," She answered.

"Oh, that's very... interesting..." He said and smiled a little. Blaze had no idea why. After some more small talk, Blaze went home.

The next morning, Spark woke up Blaze and Hoppip up early. His reason was to see the job bulletin board and the outlaw notice board next to the Kecleon Shop. When they got there, Spark told them about it.

"This is where you look for jobs," Spark began by stating the obvious, "The job bulletin board is the yellow one while the outlaw notice board is the red one. The most common jobs on the job bulletin board are rescues while the least common is rescuing Pokemon from burning buildings. This is due to these kind of missions being really, really difficult! First off, you have to rescue many Pokemon on many different floors. Second, there is a time limit. If you run out of time, the building will collapse and all the Pokemon inside will die. Well, except for Pokemon on exploration teams. Their badges save them at the last second. Besides losing some of your items and half of your money, you have to live with the guilt from not being able to save those poor Pokemon," Spark said. Hoppip raised her stub of an arm and jumped crazily.

"Ooh! Ooh! I have a question, Papa! Why are the buildings burning in the first place?" She asked.

"It's very simple, actually. Outlaws set them on fire," Spark said. Hoppip raised her stubby arm yet again.

"I have another question, Papa! Wouldn't the building have already burned down by the time we got the job?" She asked.

"Good question. I honestly don't know. Maybe it takes a while for buildings to burn here," Spark said, "Do you have any more questions, Hoppip?" She didn't say anything. "Good. Now let's select a rescue to do today..." Spark looked at the board.

"What about this one?" Blaze took an envelope off the board and read it. It was from a Geodude who had somehow gotten lost in Green Forest, a mystery dungeon.

"Green Forest? That's where I collect our food," Spark said after she told him about the job.

"Great. We're taking the job, but first I have to ask Blissey something," Blaze said.

"Okay, we'll wait here while you ask your question," Spark said. Blaze went over to the Blissey Day Care.

"Oh, hi, Blaze! What brings you here?" Blissey greeted her.

"Well, I wanted to ask you one thing," Blaze said.

"And what is that?" Blissey asked.

"How did you obtain Hoppip's egg?" Blaze asked her.

"Well, it's a very long story. It was a stormy night, a few nights before you came along. You know, Spark is very afraid of storms..." Blissey went off-topic with what Spark was afraid of.

"Blissey, we weren't talking about that..." Blaze then took a huge breath and shouted, "BLISSEY!"

"Oh, I got off-topic again... silly me! So anyway, I was about to close up for the night when a Jumpluff burst into the building with Hoppip's egg. She was very out of breath and had a lot of scratches on her, I don't know why. She shoved the egg into my arms and told me to take care of it for her. Then she ran off. The next thing I heard was a shrill scream. I went outside to see blood on the floor, but no body in sight," Blissey finished her story.

"Do you think the Jumpluff was killed?" Blaze asked.

"Um, I don't know if she was killed or not. I mean, anything could have happened," Blissey said. After a few more minutes of small talk, Blaze went back to Spark and Hoppip.

"So, what did you ask Blissey?" Spark asked when he saw her coming.

"I-it's nothing. Let's go to Green Forest and save that Geodude, okay?" Blaze said.

"Let's go!" Hoppip said. With that, they exited the town and went to the nearby Green Forest.

**Green Forest 1F**

When they were inside the mystery dungeon, the first thing Blaze noticed was that there were many apples and berries on the floor. They walked a little until they ran into an Oddish.

"Let me handle this, Mama!" Hoppip ran in front of Blaze and performed a Double-Edge attack and knocked out the Pokemon that would have attacked them. "Ow..." she said as a result of the recoil from the attack.

"Good job, Hoppip," Spark praised her. Hoppip made a huge smile.

"Yay! Papa thinks I did good! Yay!" She said happily. They walked a little more until a Tropius attacked them. It used Gust, which they all dodged. Blaze used Ember, which greatly weakened it. Spark used Spark, which knocked it out. They walked a little more until they found the stairs.

**Somewhere on Green Forest 11F**

Nothing of much importance happened on this floor, except that they found Geodude. He was covered in scratches

"Thank you very much! I'll see you in town square later!" the grateful client said. Blaze just stood there, doing nothing. She didn't know what to do at all.

"What are you doing? Shine the exploration team badge on Geodude to teleport him outside this place!" Spark said.

"Oh! I-I was about to do that!" Blaze got out the badge and shone it on Geodude, which teleported him outside Green Forest instantly.

"Ok, now that our job is completed, do you want to go home?" Spark asked. Blaze nodded while Hoppip just yawned. Blaze shone the badge on Spark and Hoppip and then herself and teleported them all outside the mystery dungeon.

**Town Square**

"Thank you for rescuing me!" the Geodude said. "As your reward, please take this item!" He handed Blaze a Special Band. She then gave it to Hoppip.

"Thank you, Mama!" Hoppip said and smiled.

That night, everyone was sleeping peacefully when someone knocked on the door.

"What is it?" Blaze said while opening the door. She was very tired. She soon saw it was the Duskull from the bank.

"Ah, it's you! I need your help!" he said frantically.

"What is it? Is there an outlaw you need to be taken care of?" Spark asked.

"More like outlaws!" he said in a panic.

"No... you don't mean..." Spark was in shock.

"Yes, it's true. Team Dusk is back!" he said, afraid.

"Who's Team Dusk?" Blaze asked Spark.

"They are a team of outlaws. They're known for working together, unlike most outlaws here. The team is made up of six Murkrow, a Honchkrow, and a Mismagius. They're led by another Pokemon who is supposedly much stronger than all of them combined. No one knows who this leader is," Spark explained.

"How do you know all this, Papa?" Hoppip asked.

"It's common knowledge around here. Now, we need to hurry!" Spark ran out the door, followed by everyone else in the house. Little did they know, they had a tough fight ahead of them.

**So, what did you think? Please review! I worked really hard on this chapter! Goodbye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, guys! Let's get started with chapter 3!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, seriously! Nintendo owns it!**

**Chapter 3**

Team Berry came to the bank in the nick of time. Team Dusk was about to leave with a lot of money when Mismagius noticed them.

"Oh, an exploration team," she said and turned to Team Berry. "I guess you're here to stop us?"

"That's right! You won't get away from us! We're Team Berry!" Spark said bravely. Mismagius just laughed.

"Hey, Honchkrow! This Team Berry actually thinks they can stop us! Isn't that funny?" She said to her partner. They laughed in unison.

"Sorry, kids, but your little team is going to get pounded! Badly, that is," Honchkrow said bluntly. He spread out his wings, which scared Hoppip.

"Mama..." She said quietly.

"Don't worry, Hoppip. We're going to be fine," Blaze comforted her. After that, the battle started. Blaze started with an Ember attack aimed at Mismagius, but she quickly dodged it. Spark went next with a Spark attack aimed at Honchkrow, but he also dodged it. Hoppip used Double-Edge on a Murkrow, as it was her only move that could cause damage. It hit, knocking it out, and Hoppip took recoil damage.

"That's one strong baby Pokemon... unusually strong, that is," Mismagius said under her breath. She then used a powerful Ominous Wind on her opponents. Honchkrow started charging up Sky Attack, aiming for Hoppip.

"Watch out, Hoppip! That Sky Attack Honchkrow is going to use is powerful! It could knock you out in one hit!" Spark warned her. All of the Murkrow, except for the one that was knocked out by Hoppip, used Wing Attack and aimed for Blaze, but Spark protected her and took all of the hits.

"Spark... Why did you protect me...?" Blaze asked, stunned.

"Wing Attack isn't very effective against me. Plus, you're my friend. I can't stand to see you get hurt," he said and smiled faintly. Just then, Honchkrow finished charging up Sky Attack and flew in Hoppip's direction. "Hoppip! Watch out!" he quickly went to Hoppip and pushed her out of the way, taking yet another Flying-type attack. After that hit, he collapsed, but he was not finished yet. "Hoppip! Give me an Oran Berry! Hurry!" he said in a rush. Hoppip reached into the bag she was holding and pulled out an Oran Berry. She gave it to Spark, who quickly ate it. He thanked her and was soon on his feet. Blaze used Ember on Honchkrow. Next, Spark used Spark, which was also aimed at Honchkrow. Aiming at another Murkrow, Hoppip used Double-Edge. It hit, knocking the Murkrow out and Hoppip took more recoil damage. Mismagius used Ominous Wind again, damaging all of her opponents.

"Mismagius is tough! That Ominous Wind is very powerful! If she keeps using that move... we're done for!" Spark said after taking the hit.

"What should we do, Papa?" Hoppip asked.

"I don't know. For now, we need to survive!" Spark said. Just then, Honchkrow used Brave Bird on Spark. It dealt a lot of damage to both Spark and Honchkrow. Honchkrow fainted immediately after that.

"The boss is out! Retreat!" all of the Murkrow fled. Mismagius stayed put.

"Those cowards can never do anything right. Once Honchkrow is out, they always flee," Mismagius said to herself.

"Mismagius! You're all alone! Give up now!" Spark said.

"I will never give up!" Mismagius was about to use Ominous Wind when she was swiftly knocked out by a black blur. Said black blur then went to Hoppip and also knocked her out.

"Hoppip!" Spark screamed and went to where she was to see if she was hurt badly. Luckily, she was okay. "Whoever did this better show up right now!" he said.

"You're looking for me?" a Sneasel was in front of Blaze, eating an apple stolen from Hoppip's bag.

"Sneasel... Why?" Blaze said sadly.

"Me? Big Bro? Sorry, but I'm not him. I'm known around these parts as Little Sis. Pleased to meet you," she said. Blaze then noticed that the feather on her head was smaller than the feather of the Sneasel she already knew.

"Watch out, Blaze! Little Sis is really dangerous!" Spark warned. The Sneasel laughed.

"That little Shinx is right. I am dangerous. You should run away while you can. Before I kill you, that is," she said. She finished her stolen apple and threw the core over her shoulder. She then got into a battle stance, ready to strike.

"Spark! Get ready, here she comes!" Blaze said. A fight quickly broke out. Blaze started with Ember, but Little Sis dodged that. Spark used Spark, but it was also dodged. Little Sis used Ice Punch on Spark, which landed a critical hit. It basically went like this for five straight minutes. Blaze and Spark kept attacking and Little Sis kept dodging and hitting them with Ice Punch. After those five minutes, Spark was knocked out.

"Spark! No!" Blaze was worried about her partner.

"Now will you run away like the weaklings you are?" Little Sis said.

"No... I will not run away!" Blaze used Ember, but Little Sis dodged it. She ran right up to Blaze and slashed her with her sharp claws. Blaze then collapsed. Spark woke up and saw his best friend on the ground.

"Blaze... wake up... please..." he said in a weak tone and shook her awake gently.

"Spark..." Blaze said weakly. Little Sis laughed manically.

"How cute! Well, you lost, so prepare to die!" she lunged at them, but before the attack could hit the weakened Pokemon, a bright flash of light blinded everyone. When the light faded, Sneasel was right in front of Team Berry.

"Big Bro! Why did you defend these two weaklings...?" Little Sis was stunned.

"Sneasel! I want to know the same thing! Why are you defending us?" Spark was obviously hostile towards the Sneasel that was defending them.

"You can't hurt these two! Because Blaze is my friend!" he said.

"WHAT?" shouted both Little Sis and Spark.

"H-how can you be friends with him?" Spark asked.

"He's very nice," Blaze answered.

"No, he's not! Blaze, I can't understand you sometimes!" Spark said.

"Well, I can't understand you either!" Blaze said back. They then got into a fight of verbal insults.

"Whoa! Stop fighting, you two! Shouldn't you two be worrying about your little friend?" Sneasel asked. The two Pokemon stopped fighting.

"For once, you're right. Blaze, we need to get back home and treat Hoppip!" Spark said. He picked up the injured Pokemon and went home with Blaze. After they were gone, Little Sis and Sneasel started to talk.

"Big Bro, why are you friends with that Vulpix?" Little Sis asked.

"She has a name. She's Blaze. She's one of the only Pokemon that doesn't hate my guts even though she's on an exploration team," Sneasel responded.

"She's on an exploration team? Even more reason to kill her! I won't let her steal away my big bro!" Little Sis said.

"Don't even think about killing her. If you do, I will never forgive you. She's one of my only friends," Sneasel said.

"Okay," Little Sis lied.

Meanwhile, Team Berry was at Spark's house. Hoppip had woken up, thanks to Spark and Blaze.

"So that's what happened! If you two were killed, I'd... I'd..." Hoppip had tears in her little eyes after hearing the explanation of what happened.

"It's okay Hoppip. We're still alive," Spark said, "However, if I get my paws on that Sneasel..." he became tense.

"You're going to thank him for saving our lives," Blaze said.

"No, I won't!" Spark said.

"Are you that stubborn?" Blaze yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, but I hate that Sneasel!" Spark refused to look at Blaze.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Blaze asked.

"He's a complete monster!" Spark responded.

"That's... complete garbage!" Blaze said.

"Fine, if you don't believe me, go run to your 'friend' for all I care!" Spark really wasn't thinking at that time.

"Fine! If that gets me away from you, I'd be happy to!" Blaze wasn't thinking, either. She stormed out the door. Hoppip started crying. Spark just stood there, stunned.

"What have I done...?" he said.

Meanwhile, Blaze was running to the old building, still angry at Spark, but a little sad at the same time. She burst into the old building's doors and started crying.

"What's wrong, Blaze? Did something happen with Spark?" Sneasel came right behind the Vulpix and asked.

"We had a fight," Blaze said sadly.

"About what?" he asked.

"Nothing that important," Blaze said.

"It is important if you're crying," Sneasel said. Blaze gave in and told him everything. "So, you were fighting over me? I don't blame you. Everyone seems to hate me these days for the reason your friend said. If I were you, I'd go apologize to him."

"Why should I?" Blaze said.

"You deserve to have a nice friend like him, and not a complete monster like me," Sneasel smiled.

"You are not a complete monster at all! You're one of my friends, and one of the nicest!" Blaze argued.

"Your friend is allowed to say what ever he wants. You are also entitled to your opinion. I won't tell you what view is right. For now, agree to disagree. Go apologize to him," Sneasel said.

"Oh, okay," Blaze said and left. When she got home, Hoppip ran to her.

"Mama! You're home!" she said happily.

"Blaze, I'm so sorry!" Spark suddenly apologized. He had tears in his eyes. "You're my friend, and I shouldn't have treated you that way. For that, I am sorry," he said.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have ran away like that," Blaze also had tears in her eyes. She ran to her partner.

"Let's never do this again," Spark said softly. Hoppip then yawned. "Oh my! It's in the middle of the night! We should really go to sleep," he said. Everyone agreed and they went into their beds to go to sleep.

"Good night, Spark," Blaze said quietly to her friend.

**Compared to the other two chapters, this is rather short. Well, see you next chapter!**


End file.
